Carl Pohlad

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Pohlad was born in Valley Junction, Iowa, to poor parents of Slovak descent. He grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa, graduated from Valley High School in 1934, attended Compton Junior College and Gonzaga University, but dropped out after the football season of his senior year. He served in World War II from 1943 to 1946, fought in Europe, was wounded, and received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal. After the war, he married Mary Eloise O'Rourke and moved to Edina, Minnesota. They had three sons: James, Robert, and William. Pohlad got his start in banking by foreclosing farms during the Great Depression and built a banking empire. He became president of Twin City Rapid Transit, saving it from Fred A. Ossanna. He also owned part of the Minnesota Vikings from the mid-1980s to 1991. He died of natural causes on January 5, 2009, at age 93.

In Their Own Story

The air was thick with history when Pohlad finalized his purchase of the Twins in 1984. He paid a total of $43.5 million to end the Griffith family's 65-year hold on the franchise, buying out Calvin and Thelma Griffith Haynes for their majority stake and H. Gabriel Murphy for his minority interest. The gamble paid off immediately; just three years later in 1987, the Twins won their first World Series in Minnesota and only the second in franchise history. They followed this with another title in 1991. However, ownership was not without peril. In 1997, Pohlad nearly sold the team to Don Beaver, who planned to move it to North Carolina's Piedmont Triad, but a failed stadium referendum and lack of interest in Charlotte killed the deal. By 2001, he even offered to sell the franchise back to Major League Baseball for $150 million as part of a contraction plan, though a court order binding the team to the Metrodome lease prevented it.

Reader's Guide

The Twins won their first World Series in Minnesota in 1987, and another World Series in 1991. These were not back-to-back titles. Pohlad was close to selling the team in 1997 to Don Beaver, but the deal fell through. In 2001, he offered to sell the Twins to MLB for $150 million as part of a contraction plan, but a court order blocked the sale. A bronze statue of Pohlad and his wife was installed at Target Field in 2010.

Did You Know?

• Pohlad was scheduled to participate in the Normandy Invasion but was kept out by a case of poison oak.
• In 2006, Forbes ranked him tied for the 107th richest person in the U.S. with a net worth of $2.6 billion.
• He bought the Twins for $43.5 million in 1984.